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Nonprofits and watershed groups say suspended federal payments slowed resilience projects and strained partners
Summary
Witnesses from Cape Cod, Mystic River and Charles River watershed groups testified that suspended federal reimbursements and canceled grant programs delayed construction, slowed tree-planting and heat-mitigation work, and reduced foundation and municipal willingness to fund new projects.
Three nonprofit witnesses described how intermittent federal payment access and canceled grant programs are affecting on-the-ground resilience and restoration work.
Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, said six wetland-restoration grants awarded under EEA programs were funded on a reimbursable basis and that the project's online payment portal was suspended after January 21. Gottlieb said the portal did not permit draws for roughly three weeks and that access resumed only after a Rhode Island federal judge found the administration had unlawfully suspended payments. He said the pause created cash-flow risk for contractors and local partners and also chilled private philanthropic interest in future project co-funding.
Patrick Herron, executive director of the Mystic River Watershed Association, testified that a previously approved $500,000 EPA grant to support extreme-heat mitigation in Chelsea, Malden and Everett had been terminated. He urged the Senate to consider higher municipal vulnerability planning funding in the environmental bond bill and stressed the need for rapid state alternatives when federal funds are delayed.
Emily Norton, executive director of the Charles River Watershed Association, said several EPA and congressional community-project funding streams were canceled or delayed (including an announced pause on certain community project funding/earmarks and cancellation of a regional EPA Healthy Communities grant program). Norton also described concerns about federal mapping and USGS staffing cuts that limit high-quality elevation and stream-gauge data used for flood planning.
Witnesses asked for clearer state contingency plans, expedited state-administered grant support for municipal vulnerability planning, and more rapid bridge funding so contractors and community organizations are not forced to halt work when federal reimbursements are unavailable.
